For Better or Worse: A Tribute to Lynn Johnston

The Patterson family will live no longer on the comics page of this or any newspaper. Lynn Johnston will stop telling the tale of the family, their friends, neighbors and pets after 28 years. It's like losing a good friend. "For Better or Worse" is coming to an end. And, it's hard to accept. http://www.fborfw.com/news/

The Canadian family seems like next door neighbors. I've cared about them, suffered their travails, shared their joys, and lived with them through turmoil, disappointment, joy, romance, work, depression, aging, the illness and death of parents and grandparents--and witnessed the deft handling of controversial issues. No other strip will take the place of "For Better or Worse."

Lynn Johnston won a Gemini Award for the comic strip, was inducted into the Order of Canada, became the first woman to win a Reuben for Outstanding Cartoonist and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize (for her controversial storyline about Lawrence, the gay son of Elly's friend). The death of the familiar, playful, family dog, Farley, had to have created a hole in the hearts of readers. (Apparently, Charles Schultz threatened to knock off Snoopy if Johnston didnt bring Farley back).

"For Better or Worse" made difficult situations in my own family life easier to deal with. I even used one Johnston strip for an essay I wrote about my mother.

In an earlier series, Elly, the mother, has been wondering how to get April, her young daughter, to get a good sex education. The final strip shows April 'discovering' a book on sex education and sharing it with her friend Becky who says, in so many words, 'you didn't just find this book; it was planted; your mom wanted you to read it.' In the final frame, April says, "I can't believe I did something my Mom actually wanted me to do."

Lynn Johnston, the strip's creator, is masterful in capturing nuanced and difficult family dynamics, emotions and values and placing them squarely in contemporary situations we can all recognize--sometimes in pain, but more often in joy. Her humor is compelling, enlightening, and, often a salve to the spirit. In this one, Johnson renders so clearly the resistance of daughters to their mothers' wishes, and, in others, she raises the specter of daughters' challenging the very 'relevance'--in the contemporary vernacular--of their mothers. Their mothers are not "with it;" more, they can be downright embarrassing. I used to cringe at the sight of the shoes my mother wore--some sort of wedged platform things--and then I saw my daughter, Eve, looking at mine!

Johnston won my heart. And, hardly mine alone. The strip's mix of gentle humor, grace and honesty has attracted readers in more than 26 countries, evidently, and has a loyal following not only in Canada but here in the United States, including readers of the Star Ledger.

In the concluding strip in today's paper, the Patterson family takes its leave as Iris offers her view of life and marriage to the next generation, the newly-weds, Elizabeth, Elly and John Patterson's daughter, and her husband, Anthony. She talks of her role in helping her husband, Elizabeth's grandfather, in his final days and says "..We made a commitment, just as you did today, and although it's not easy...it's a promise that should last a lifetime. It defines you as a person and describes your soul. It's a promise to be there, one for the other, no matter what happens, no matter who falls....For better or for worse, my dears....for better or for worse."

And, with that Lynn Johnston, concludes her story: "With grateful thanks to everyone who has made this all possible."